The present invention relates to a soil electrode assembly for protecting and supporting an electrode member for measuring the resistivity of a volume of soil.
Known in the art, there is the U.S. Pat. No. 2,611,643 of R. V. Higgins, granted from Sep. 23, 1952. This patent describes an automatic sprinkling device which includes two electrodes inserted into soil.
Also known in the art, there is the U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,551 of Charles Ayme de la Lachevreliere, granted on Sep. 16, 1975. This patent describes automatic soil-sprinkling arrangements which comprise an electrode lying within an upper sprinkled layer, and an electrode lying within the permanently moist layer at a sufficient depth. By these electrodes, it is possible to measure approximately the resistivity of the soil.
Also known in the art, there are the following U.S. patents which describe different soils probe:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,428 of Minoru Numoto, granted on Jul. 6, 1976; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,667 of Nigel W. Cornes, granted on Sep. 7, 1976; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,389 of Peter H. Haagen, granted on Oct. 24, 1978; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,598 of Kandiah Arulanandan et al, granted on Mar. 31, 1987; and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,885 of Michael R. Dishman, granted on May 29, 1990. PA1 a substantially flat support member having two principal opposite faces and a lower sharp end drivable into soil for introduction of said support member into said soil, said support member being made of a rigid material, one of said faces of said support member forming a first opening providing an access to a first compartment in said support member; and PA1 a substantially flat insulating member having principal opposite faces, said insulating member being mounted in said first compartment so that one of said faces thereof be adjacent to said first opening, said insulating member is made of an electrically insulating material, said one face of said insulating member forming a second opening providing an access to a second compartment in said insulating member, said second compartment being for receiving said electrode member so that, when said electrode member is mounted in said second compartment, said electrode member be electrically insulated from said support member, whereby, in operation, said electrode member is mounted in said assembly which is driven into said soil and disposed substantially in front of a second electrode member so that said volume of soil, which is between said electrode members, is measured by energizing and monitoring said electrodes.
One drawback with the probes shown in the above mentioned patents, is that they cannot provide the necessary means for measuring with an adequate precision the resistivity of a volume of soil.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a soil electrode assembly for protecting and supporting an electrode member for measuring the resistivity of the volume of soil.